Title
Music – Ron Grainer, Peter Howell and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Remastered
by David Darlington)

TARDIS
Sounds – Brian Hodgson and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Executive Producer (for BBC
Worldwide) – Jacqueline Rayner

Story
Summary (BIG SPOILERS!):

The Doctor takes an intergalactic tour to a space
heritage centre that celebrates the legend of Omega, whose scientific
achievements gave the Time Lords their power over time. However, not long after
he arrives, an actor called Tarpov goes mad due to the local dimensional
instability, and people start being murdered one by one in mysteriously
theatrical circumstances, including Tarpov. The Doctor’s chief suspect is
Omega, who having survived their most recent encounter in Amsterdam, wants to
return home to his anti-matter universe, and marry Sentia, one of the tour
staff whom he has fallen in love with. However, Omega seems to be an
insubstantial ghostly entity and cannot possibly have committed the killings.
For a long time the Doctor is baffled by the mystery...that is, until the real
Doctor turns up.

As both Omega and Sentia become mentally unstable, the
Doctor rescues Daland and the heritage centre tourists. However he is forced to
leave Omega and Sentia behind on Omega’s ship the Eurydice, as it descends into
the nearby black hole, but not before he explains to Omega that not all his
memories are his own. As a result of Omega’s split-personality, he now feels
deeply guilty over a memory that he gained from the Doctor, who admits that in
the past he accidentally committed genocide against the Scintillans, while
trying to save another alien species from death and destruction. As the
Eurydice disappears into the black hole, the Doctor quietly mourns Omega, while
regretting unfairly wronging him.

Story
Placement

Between Arc of
Infinity (TV Serial) and The Elite
(BIG Finish audio).

Favourite
Lines

Sentia
– “Well the past isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You can’t touch anything,
it’s very dirty, frequently boring, and in almost all cases they’re no proper
toilet facilities”.

The
Doctor – “If I didn’t know better, this stuff sounds a lot like conjecture,
professor?”

Professor
Ertikus – “Oh yes, but completely different from old Shezion’s guesswork”.

The
Doctor – “Oh yes”.

Professor
Ertikus – “Oh yes. This is my guesswork”.

Professor
Ertikus – “The public can’t cope with history, unless it’s on the telly with
lots of actors dressed in silly costumes. Philistines”.

Daland
– “The public can’t cope with history unless it’s in some dusty little book.
Cretins”.

Sentia
– “A lot of people find the story of Vandekyrian’s betrayal the most powerful”.

Glinda
– “Oh no, that bit was rubbish. We liked the bit when Vandekyrian chased Omega
down the corridor. That was very funny”.

Professor
Ertikus – “This is very alarming...”

The
Doctor – “I agree”.

Professor
Ertikus – “I have that passage on page 212. You’re quoting my own rival’s book
at me!”

The
Doctor – “I always thought it would spoil things, knowing all there was to know
about him. I think it’s best to have some element of mystery about the
character”.

Professor
Ertikus – “Oh no, I couldn’t disagree more. Nothing annoyed me more when fans
of Omega concocted these convoluted theories to explain away discrepancies in
the the legends”.

Omega
– “He is babbling into a machine, speaking half-truths and nonsense”.

The
Doctor – “He works in Television. I’m told they do that”.

The
Doctor – “It’s not a bad old cosmos. Flowers, cups of tea, trees, mugs of tea,
sunsets, pots of tea... As you can see, I don’t expect too much from this
universe”.

Daland
– “I’m not used to chatting up inanimate objects”.

Sentia
– “Can I interest you in a souvenir of your stay? How about our ‘Talking
Omega’? Says four simple phrases”.

The
Doctor – “That many. Sounds like the Omega I used to know”.

Daland
– “Hold! I am the great Doctor! Champion
of Time! Defeater of the dreaded Omega! Can I wear a cloak?”

Review:

In 2003, BIG Finish led Doctor Who’s 40th Anniversary celebrations rather
appropriately with a mini-series of stories that explored three of the show’s
most popular villains – Omega, Davros
and Master. Omega, the first audio release is a fascinating exploration of the
titular character in question, the pioneering Time Lord that first gave
Gallifrey the power of Time Travel, but turned rogue, when he was abandoned by
his fellow people to die in a Black hole. Omega has been one of Doctor Who’s most neglected villains,
presented to us as a bellowing megalomaniac in The Three Doctors, and in Arc
of Infinity, a less-bellowing, but equally theatrical and power-crazed
maniac. Thankfully, Omega rectifies
some of this by examining not only his past, but also his feelings, emotions
and motivations, adding important dimensions to his character, and showing us
that he wasn’t always so bad after all.

The story that Nev Fountain conjures up to frame this
examination in, is a simple, but good one never-the-less. Abandoned and lonely
in this Universe, Omega decides he wants to return back to his own Universe of
Anti-Matter where he can be master of his own destiny and ruler of his own
kingdom again. This may not sound like riveting stuff on the surface, but Nev
Fountain cleverly tells the story within a murder mystery, adding an important
layer of intrigue to the proceedings, and brilliantly tops it all off with one
of the best cliff-hanger twists that Doctor
Who has ever written (even if it’s one you could only get away with on
audio). There are other layers to the script too, such as the examination of
the ‘legend of Omega’ and his all-important first experiments into Time-travel;
the audio’s ongoing theme about the importance of legends and stories in
general; and a philosophical exploration (and part moral parable) by the writer
into how easy it is for people and society to unjustly attach blame and
demonise others, particularly the unpopular, and unfairly judge people on their
superficial qualities. There are also multiple satires and parodies of period
dramas, the Television industry, coach tours, and history tourists. The good
side of these multiple layers of meaning, jokes and plot is that there’s a lot
that the audience can take away from the experience, and the script sparkles
with some well-observed dialogue and several cracking jokes and one-liners.
However, the negative side of all this trifle of elements are that some of them
seem to be purely thrown in for effect; short-term entertainment to help take
the listener’s mind off the fact that the underlying story is developing so
slowly, however, this is only really a problem in part two, which is filled
with a large amount of padding.

Another part of the story which didn’t really work that
well for me was the Scintillans sub-plot. The revelation that the Doctor
accidentally committed genocide on the Scintillans is a brilliant twist, but
its dramatic impact is spoilt by the sub-plot being dragged out too long in the
story. Omega is strongly hinted to be the murderer of the Scintillans in part
one and yet the narrative acts if this is one big powerful secret that will
surprise us all when all is revealed. However, given Omega’s past record, this
is hardly news to the audience, and we have to wait for the script to
acknowledge this in part three before the story really goes anywhere. Combined
with Omega’s ghostly psychic manifestations that haunt the Eurydice and aren’t
really of much relevance to the continuing story, it makes part two drag
significantly, filled with the padding of a near-redundant sub-plot that plods
on for three episodes before it has something interesting to tell us. However,
so much is done right with this script and production that you can’t hold much
against it for long. One of the best things about Omega is Nev Fountain’s great
characterisation.

Being the main subject of the story, it’s no surprise
that Omega also gets the best character development. We find out that Omega
used to be a time plumber called Peylix, and gained his infamous title after
receiving the fail grade of Omega in an exam about Time while studying at
Gallifrey’s Academy. We also see an earlier Omega with strong, brave and
honourable convictions in the years before his personality was twisted by
obsession, paranoia and murder. For the first time, we see and understand that
Omega used to a good man and shared many of the ideals later gained by the
Doctor, and that events have conspired against him, and are mainly responsible
for turning him into a monster. This tragic depiction of Omega is emphasised by
the fact that he is inflicted with the Doctor’s guilt over the deaths of the
Scintillans. Importantly though, Omega is still a mad, and thoroughly psychotic
monster; obsessed with his own legend, and paranoid to the last, murdering anyone
in his way. Although this does make the murder mystery rather obvious, Nev
Fountain tries his best to muddy the waters as much as possible.

Daland is by far the strongest of the supporting
characters. An out-of-work Television actor who now has to make a living
performing role-plays as Omega for an outer space heritage centre. Despite
being shallow and a habitual adulterer, Daland is actually the most likeable
and fun character in the whole story, and probably the most normal that anyone
can relate to. His light vanity is quite sweet really, as he comes across as a
harmless loveable old fool. Daland also has an ever-present and hilarious dry
wit that often gives him most of the best lines. I also love how Nev Fountain
gently pokes fun at actors through Daland too, and has possibly the best use of
the word “ham” in a Doctor Who story
than I’ve heard for some time.

Professor Ertikus is also a great supporting character; a
walking, talking symbol of everything we love and ridicule about history
professors. There’s the breathless enthusiasm, the jealously of his fellow
rivals, the obstinate and vain persona, and the determination to be the first
to discover the truth. You could say he’s similar to the Doctor too in most
ways, and the fact that he’s also a Time Lord and loves being chased down
corridors extends the similarity further. I suppose you could also say that
Ertikus is a metaphor for Doctor Who
fans too, given many of the same qualities apply, and I’m sure it’s a
comparison that Nev Fountain intended and much more subtle than Russell T.
Davies attempted in Love & Monsters.

The Doctor is decently written for with some great lines
and of course that great twist about his accidental genocide of the
Scintillans, but apart from being given an extra serving of dry wit to amuse
us, the Fifth Doctor is pretty much his typical self; eternally kind, humble,
considerate and selfless. Then again its Omega’s turn to take centre stage, so
that’s to be expected. Though I do love the fact that the Doctor continues to
sympathise and defend Omega, even to others; staying true to character by
always seeing the best in people.

I also love the characters of Glinda and Maven. They’re
both adorable, a joy to listen to, and a loving satire of eccentric old ladies
the world over. Hard to please, except by the catering and comfort facilities;
gassy and eccentric; often excited by the little things in life; and are so
absorbed in own lives, that they often fail to notice what’s going on around
them. Surely everybody knows someone just like them; such is the sheer
believability and realistic portrayal of these brilliant characters. The fact
that they turn out to be a human-shaped TARDIS and Time Lord from the future is
another beautiful and rewarding twist from Nev Fountain that is part of the
icing on the cake of this audio.

The other characterisation in Omega though, is somewhat patchy. Sentia starts off being a very
believable overworked and underpaid heritage staff worker, made doubly tired
and bitter after being used and let-down by men in the past, who she once cared
for, including Daland. There’s something a bit odd about her love for Omega,
but it seems that she is more taken in by his weakened vulnerability after the
events of Arc of Infinity (1983 TV
Serial). However, it’s hard to see exactly why Sentia is so much in love with Omega that she will literally do and forgive
him anything it seems. He murders others, albeit in acts of madness, and yet
despite her initial distress and sorrow for the victims, she still seems to
forgive him and carry on with him, even despite the risk of getting killed
herself. None of these questions in her character are really ever examined, and
instead she has a mental breakdown throughout the last episode, due to being
vulnerable to the dimensional instability in that area of space.

The character of Tarpov gets the worst deal though. A simple,
seemingly amateur, but humble actor who very quickly turns into an insane,
shouting, panicking and quivering wreck, also as a result of the local
dimensional instability, only Tarpov is affected early into part one and
remains so for the rest of the audio. He’s given most of the worst dialogue in
the story too, and his near endlessly theatrical ravings are thoroughly
tiresome and grating in the extreme. Sentia’s ravings are too, but as they only
happen for the last ten minutes of the story they’re easily overlooked.

Another one of Omega’s
strong points is its fantastic cast. Peter Davison snaps up the good material
with much enthusiasm, and really has fun with it, clearly enjoying not just the
range of emotions he has to play, but also the witty dialogue. Ian Collier is
also very good, brilliantly underplaying most of his performance to help Omega
a much more sympathetic side, even if the script demands him to return to the
theatrical villain of old from time-to-time. Hugo Myatt though, just like his
character Daland, steals the show. He puts in a loveable bumbling performance
which helps make the character infinitely likeable, relatable and very funny.
Who would have thought it, given his slightly hammy persona as presenter of the
Knightmare children’s TV game show
back in the 1980s? Not me certainly, but that as Daland would say, “is what we
call acting”. Caroline Munro also impresses, fleshing out Sentia very well,
before Omega’s appearance pushes Sentia more into the background. I confess that
I haven’t really seen any of Caroline’s film work beyond her small role in The Spy Who Loved Me, but on the
strength of her performance in Omega,
I’m certainly tempted to seek out her more prominent cinema appearances. Conrad
Westmaas sadly draws the short straw, having to play a relatively thankless
character. He also rather irritatingly overplays a lot of his later lines, and
is always very theatrical, but it’s hard to tell if this might also be down to
Gary Russell’s direction which also seems to be slipping slightly to the
theatrical side.

The rest of the audio’s production is also reasonably
polished too. The sound design is more minimal, but still very effective. My
favourite sound was all the ‘Talking Omega’ toys being knocked over by Omega
and going off with loads of tinny, but gloriously camp quotes voiced by Hugo
Myatt (Daland performed as Omega for the Heritage Centre). I almost want to buy
one, just thinking about it (Come on Character Options; let’s have a Talking
Omega for Christmas 2012). Russell Stone also creates a relatively understated
and effective music soundtrack, which although maybe not one of his best,
underlines and supports the dramatic moments in the story very well.

However, the best thing about Omega definitely has to be that outstanding cliff-hanger twist at
the end of part three. As a Doctor Who
fan of nearly 20 years, it feels like it was something I should have seen
coming, particularly for anyone who has seen Arc of Infinity, but on my first listen in 2003 it blew me away.
Although the whole story really hangs upon it, the twist that the Doctor we
have been listening to for the first three episodes was really Omega with a
split-personality is pure genius, made more effective when the real Doctor turns up a moment later. The
power of the twist is naturally diminished on repeated listening (this being my
fifth I think), but it remains a fantastic dramatic moment, and one of Doctor Who strongest cliff-hangers, up
there with Earthshock part one, and Remembrance of the Daleks part one.

Whether you enjoy moral parables, philosophy, well
observed dry humour, or just wanted to know more about Omega, this audio offers
something for most listeners and Doctor
Who fans to enjoy. Omega may not
quite be a classic, but its clever script work, superlative characterisation
and great cast make it stand out from most of BIG Finish’s other audios as a
thoroughly entertaining, enjoyable, and underrated gem.

Title
Music – Ron Grainer, Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Special
Sound – Brian Hodgson and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Story
Summary (SPOILERS!):

The Doctor, Susan, and their reluctant companions Ian and
Barbara arrive on a desolate alien world, where everything is dead and
petrified. ...everything that is, except for a large metal city, where metal
horrors lurk within the shadows...

After tricking his fellow travelling companions with a
staged fault within the TARDIS, a fault that can only be rectified by
discovering an outside source of mercury; the Doctor discovers that his greed
for knowledge about the city has turned into folly when they are all captured
by its menacing inhabitants – the Daleks! However, to their further horror,
they also realise they are dying from fatal exposure to deadly levels of
outside radiation.

From the Daleks, the Time travellers learn that they are
on the planet Skaro, a World that was devastated centuries ago by a war between
its two races, the Daleks and the Thals. Like the Daleks, the Thals too have
survived, and over the generations have become pacifists, weary of war, in part
a reaction to their difficult struggle to survive off the land of their dead
planet.

The Daleks however, only see their survival with the
total extermination of the Thals (and all other sentient life), and an
artificial raise in the planet’s radiation level. After the Thals cure the
Doctor and his friends of radiation sickness, they return the favour by warning
them of a Dalek ambush to wipe them out during their escape from the metal
city. Upon arrival back at the TARDIS though, they realise that the Daleks
still hold the fluid link, the vital piece of the TARDIS systems that the
Doctor used to trick his companions to go into the city in the first place.

Ian eventually convinces the Thals to fight the Daleks as
a necessity for their own survival. After many fatalities and obstacles, the
Thals and the Time Travellers foil the Daleks’ attempts to release deadly
radiation into the planet’s atmosphere, and succeed in putting them out of
action. As the Time Travellers leave, the Thals nurse their wounds, hoping that
a new and better future awaits them.

Story
Placement

Between An
Unearthly Child (TV Episode) and The
Edge of Destruction (TV Episode)

Favourite
Lines

Barbara
Wright – “I counted so much on just going back, to things I recognise and
trust. But here there’s nothing to rely on. Nothing”

Ian Chesterton – “Well,
there’s me. Barbara, all I ask you to do is believe. Really believe we’ll go
back. We will you know”.

Alydon – “If they call us
mutations, what must they be like?”

The Daleks – “We have the
message now”.

Ian – “So there is something you’ll fight for”.

The Daleks – “We do not have
to adapt to the environment. We will change the environment to suit us”.

The Doctor – “Always search for truth. My truth is in the
stars, and yours is here”.

Review:

There’s good reason why The Daleks left such an impact on its audience, and it was because
of a lot more than just the strength and success of the concept of the Dalek
creatures themselves. In fact I’d say that The
Daleks is one of the most tightly and best scripted Doctor Who stories ever, and it pays immeasurably, particularly in terms
of creating kudos for the programme itself, at a time when it was needed the
most, in those difficult early months of Doctor
Who’s creation and production.

The first and perhaps most obvious person to credit for
this is Terry Nation, the writer and creator of the story, plot and ideas for The Daleks, including the concept and
central idea behind the Daleks themselves. The story itself is a fantastic
thriller, and remains one of Doctor Who’s
best tales. Terry Nation clearly thought so too, as he went on to rehash and reuse
various elements of it in most of his subsequent Doctor Who scripts, including one instance when he rehashed the
whole story itself a decade later in Planet
of the Daleks.

I also love the idea of the TARDIS food machine. The Daleks was only the second Doctor Who serial, and already the production
team were thinking of important questions like how time travellers can
believably survive in a time machine over time, something which many future
writers and producers for the show neglected. The idea of any food, being
possible to replicate into a somewhat mundane-looking food ‘bar’, is not only
remarkable, it’s also quite prescient. Although ‘space food’ made for
astronauts had already been in development for a good few years before 1963, we
were still decades before processed food bars would be an everyday reality for
food shoppers.

The idea of a dead and desolate world full of petrified
forests and mutated creatures is itself a fantastically imaginative idea that
even outside of the filmed serial creates a vivid and visceral image that is
unforgettable. The visual effects and set design do it great justice too,
despite the low budget, and even the bigger budgeted Dr Who and the Daleks 1965 film adaption fails to recreate it as
well later on. This is Doctor Who’s
first alien world, and Skaro is by far one of the best, feeling truly alien in
every way, from sound and lighting to the props and set design. Even the video
technicians create a wonderfully subtle slight negative inversion of the black
and white colours during the first moments of the TARDIS team exploring the
planet, making it feel even more unusual, and even as a modern viewer it makes
me forget for a while that I’m actually watching the interior of a studio set.
There’s also a nice artistic contrast between the dark and dead forests and the
sterile, shiny, brightly lit metal city that houses the Daleks.

Speaking of the famous pepper pots, the Daleks are
undoubtedly a work of genius in almost every respect. Of course, from a modern
perspective, it’s obvious that the Daleks are both a symbol and metaphor for
the Nazis, and a warning about the dangers of leaving fascism and racism
unopposed and free to corrupt and destroy both society and freewill. The Thals
represent the civilised, peaceful, kind and altruistic in society, but also the
oppressed and prejudiced who want to survive without betraying their principles
and savour the best of what remains of their world. You could even argue that
the Thals’ suffering at the mercy of the Daleks partly symbolises the Holocaust
atrocity, and that the Daleks’ city/trap resembles a concentration camp of
sorts. The story of The Daleks also
has very strong cold war themes and overtones. Aside from the obvious nuclear
war and fallout metaphor in the Neutronic war backstory, there’s also the
common 1960s warning about the effects of nuclear warfare, not just in terms of
the radiation fallout, but also the highly destructive and negative impact it
has on society, politics, culture and most importantly of all, civilisation.
The two small opposed groups of Thals and Daleks (or Kaleds, if you will) are
clearly small pockets of survivors in a global population that has been all but
decimated. The attitude of the Daleks to continue destroying all is another
implication that engaging in nuclear warfare, particularly on one’s own kind in
the manner of previous wars, in one way or another, causes total annihilation
for all life on Earth, not just the ‘enemy’.

Another
fascinating point to note about the Daleks in their first serial is that on
this particular occasion, their motive seems largely to be self-preservation,
rather than the later established and more commonly-accepted motive of
universal domination. Their infinite hatred for the Thals is obvious, but the
desperation to act for their own survival adds an extra dimension to their
hysteria and hate-filled character that is often lacking in most subsequent
Dalek stories. However, the explanation of the Daleks’ supremely racist nature (“dislike
for the unlike”, as offered by Ian in the story) seems rather simplistic and
off-hand, lacking in enough substantial detail to convince us of why they
believe so strongly in acting this way in the first place. Thankfully, Genesis of the Daleks (1975 serial)
clears up this particular mystery (along with many others) while examining
their creation by Skaro scientist Davros, but that discussion will have to wait
until another day.

Terry Nation wasn’t the only person responsible for
making the Dalek creatures such a success. The monsters would be nowhere near
as iconic, memorable or exciting without their impressive appearance or their
thrilling vocal tones. These were brought us by talented set designer Raymond Cusick
and Radiophonic Workshop sound designer Brian Hodgson respectively, both
pioneers in their time who had to work magic with very little resources and
money at their disposal. Sadly Ray Cusick has only been recognised for his
sizeable contribution to TV history relatively recently. He wonderfully picked
up upon the obvious shape of a pepper pot, and turned it into a thin and man-sized
metal Tank, which today still looks like the image of the ultimate weapon and
artillery vehicle that its imagery implies – threatening, impenetrable,
unstoppable, and all-pervasive. I also love the Dalek’s eyestalk. The use of a
camera lens and iris to not just represent the Dalek’s eye, but also to make it
appear alive by squinting and opening up is pure genius. It really helps to
bring the creatures to life and help us suspend our disbelief and think of them
as characters. I can never understand why in the 1970s they ditched the
lens-eye design and replaced it with a much less interesting static, black and
white (or two-colour) target-shaped eye sensor that remained until the 2005
series gladly brought back the lens-eye design. The other great thing about
Cusick’s creation is that it still stands up today, nearly fifty years on, and
looks just as coldly alien, as I’m sure it did upon its Television entrance. As
for the weapons, I honestly don’t mind about the much-ridiculed sink plunger.
The 1960s Peter Cushing Doctor Who
films proved that the claw adaptation was only slightly more practical and
still a bit cumbersome, so I think the Dalek manages to successfully get away
with the sink plunger, which has also become part of their iconic image now.
The ‘egg whisk’-like Dalek gun is quite sleek and classy too, and above all
rather flexible, so it’s actually really good as a weapon design.

The Dalek voice effect is also absolute genius. Although
today sound modulation is considered a simple audio effect, back in the 1960s,
sound design was still very much in its infancy, with much of what is produced
with ease by sound software today, waiting to be invented or used creatively by
talented sound engineers, sound designers and early electronic musicians. The
BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one such group of pioneers, who although had a
small budget, were at the forefront of progress in sound design and electronic
music during it’s time (1958-1998), and created a lot of innovative advances,
both in sound and music, which today we take for granted. Now, the use of voice
modulation, along with a directed monotone performance, is synonymous with the
fictional Dalek creations and equally part of their much-loved iconography and
appeal. The Dalek voice artists, Peter Hawkins and David Graham also help bring
the Dalek characters to life with a perfectly-judged and directed intense
performance that brilliantly gets across their paranoid, ruthless, callous and
xenophobic natures. One of the great things about the Daleks here too, is that
outside of the humanised-Daleks of The
Evil of the Daleks, this serial is one of the few times when nearly each
individual Dalek actually appears to have an individual character, whether by
movement or by the expression in each Dalek’s voice. Later Dalek stories would
try to do this by introducing ranks and hierarchies, but it wouldn’t feel quite
the same as it does here, where Daleks sometimes have conversations rather than
just be barked orders. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Daleks
though is how the production team got everything about them perfectly right
from day one. Sure, the outward design may have had some slight improvements
over the next few years, but for all intents and purposes the Daleks are a
creation that through a team of talented professionals, has remained the same
since 1963, and has never really needed to be changed despite the whims of
various Doctor Who producers over the
last 30 years.

Terry Nation also wasn’t solely responsible for making The Daleks such a great story and
script. In fact I’m certain that the brilliance of the script is largely down
to Doctor Who’s story/script editor
David Whitaker, who was mainly responsible for maintaining the continuity of
the regular characters, in their behaviour as well as their expanding story and
character profiles. However, I feel this simple description doesn’t do justice
to the amount of work David Whitaker did for Doctor Who, particularly for The
Daleks. It’s clear, both from production diaries (as can be found in Doctor Who - The Handbook: The First Doctor
(1994), by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker), interviews
and other non-fiction books on the programme’s early years that Terry Nation
was mainly an ideas writer and didn’t really have much understanding of writing
character or creative description, or at least in 1963 anyway. David Whitaker
greatly fleshed out the characters and also gave most of them brilliant
character development, even to non-regulars, like some of the Thals who went
through as much of an emotional journey as the Doctor and his companions. I
also wouldn’t be surprised if Whitaker was also the author of many of the
story’s political overtones. However, most importantly of all he helps keep the
audience involved in the adventure through some amazing dialogue and numerous
dramatic twists and turns which stop us from taking anything for granted in the
story, such as the radiation revelation in episode 2, and when Ian realises
that the Daleks still have the fluid link at the end of episode 4. Whitaker
also expertly writes a slowly build up of tension in the final episode so that
the victorious climax gives us a memorable, thrilling and satisfying ending to
this magnificent epic adventure. The only thing that spoils the story is the
unfortunate padding that makes up significant parts of episodes 5 and 6, as
both writers struggle to keep the Thals’ jungle trek to the Mountain caves
interesting, but on the whole Whitaker always tries to keep the story dynamic,
thrilling and on-the-move, and overall succeeds.

The characterisation that David Whitaker writes in The Daleks is truly masterful. I don’t
think the original TARDIS team has been written any better than here. The
Doctor is still very much the anti-hero that was introduced to viewers in An Unearthly Child, albeit slightly more
trusting and respectful of his reluctant companions than before. At the beginning
of the story we can clearly see that he is still rather ruthless, and operates
from a position of self-interest. This is also where see that the Doctor has a
scientific lust for knowledge and can’t abide a mystery. This selfish greed to
uncover the truth about the metal city, regardless of the personal cost and
consequences to his travelling companions, causes him to ruthlessly sabotage
his own Time Ship, just so he can trick his companions into letting him go
there. The Doctor’s devious behaviour rather parabolically leads him into a
deadly folly as all the time travellers are exposed to a fatal amount of
radiation that for a long while seems incurable. I must say that this development was an
electrifying twist, and even after watching this serial several times over the
years, it still puts me on the edge of my seat every time (in fact most of
episode two does, it’s that good!).
This near fatal mistake, combined with his personal encounter with the Daleks
seem to noticeably soften the Doctor slightly as a character, because he never
seems to be quite as selfish as this again. Although the circumstances
surrounding the fluid link forces the Doctor to aid the Thals in defeating and
overthrowing the Daleks, his concern over the Daleks’ plans in episode 7 seem
to be more than just self-preservation, even if at first he coldly didn’t seem
to care about the potential genocide of the Thals. It’s interesting that it
took a force as totally abhorrent, callous, evil and destructive as the Daleks
to convince the Doctor of the morals of the sanctity of life, the need to fight
evil and injustice in the Universe (where it didn’t affect the timelines of
course), and the need to protect the innocent from it. Although it’s important
to note that the Doctor is still a long way from being the hero we know and
love at this point, this is where he first starts to get his lighter shades of
grey in his character. Non-intervention may still be an option for him, but
it’s no longer the only option. At least he now knows that what’s right and
what’s best for him are not always the same thing. Though I do love the moments
when we get to see the gentler side of the Doctor, like when he encourages the
others to think about how to put a Dalek out of operation; exclaims admiration
for Barbara when she shares his point of view; gives departing words of wisdom
to the Thals; or just joyously gets caught out by the Daleks while bragging
about his ingenuity to Susan.The
Daleks is a particularly good showing for Susan, who is a lot
more brave and proactive here than in most of her other appearances. Even when
surrounded by a dead planet, she still tries to hold onto everything that is
good and beautiful (like the alien flowers), while everyone else seems to fall
into despair. Susan’s kind-hearted nature means that she rarely thinks the
worst of people, and quickly warms to Alydon and the Thals, and only really
distrusts the Daleks because of the way they’ve kept her friends prisoner. Her
courage in venturing back to the TARDIS alone is really admirable, and her
eagerness to help and come up with ideas makes Susan a rather charming
character to watch. For the first time, Susan feels like a key part of the
TARDIS team, and it’s great that all the regular characters have good material
for once, as sadly it wouldn’t always remain so in future serials.

Barbara Wright is still a very reluctant time traveller,
but this time, her most recent experiences have made her much more able to put
on a brave face throughout the various difficult situations she goes through in
the story. Her strong convictions continue to make her a commanding voice
amongst the time travellers and a compelling character, but for The Daleks Barbara seems to play a
smaller, more background role than usual. Fortunately this doesn’t do any
damage to Barbara’s character, as she gets a maternal moment with Susan when
she gets slightly upset about her grandfather’s refusal to believe her word;
and also has a wonderfully subtle romantic chemistry with Ganatus. Barbara even
interestingly sides with the Doctor against Ian, when her life is under threat.
However, for the most part, Barbara is still developing as a character, perhaps
to a greater extent than the other regulars, and like the Doctor, her
individual character story arc would be resolved in the next serial, The Edge of Destruction.

Ian Chesterton is also growing as a character. He
smoothly develops into the protagonist of the series, taking charge and making
a stand when needed, even if it means railing against the Doctor, the only
person who can take him and Barbara back to their home time. He is also the
time traveller with the greatest moral compass and conviction, always thinking
of others whether protecting his fellow travellers, or feeling guilty for
having to forcefully coerce the Thals into understanding that they need to make
a stand against the Daleks, mainly for the time travellers’ self-benefit. Ian
is also a very astute and reasonably quick-thinking person, whose
resourcefulness surpasses even that of the Doctor on several occasions, as
evidenced by him pretending to take Dyoni away to the Daleks, in order to prove
to Thal leader Alydon the importance of fighting to protect ‘your own’, knowing
that he would probably receive a strong blow in the process. He’s also
understandably shaken and angry at the Doctor’s trickery and deceit when he
comes clean, as he clearly found it difficult to imagine how ruthlessly selfish
he could be considering what they went through back in the Stone Age on Earth.
It’s clear that Ian always tries to think the best of people, but he’s no fool,
even if he doesn’t necessarily have all the answers. If this sounds like a
traditional ‘hero’ stereotype, then you’re partly right. Ian was clearly meant
to be the leading protagonist of the regular characters, the ‘hero’ of the
group, but the character developed into something far more three-dimensional
and human than that. He’s down-to-earth and humble, intelligent, but not
all-knowing, brave and selfless, focused and decisive, while still importantly
being fallible. Also on those rare occasions when danger and dire situations
are not present, Ian tries to keep up his companions spirits with a light joke,
and never takes himself too seriously. Ian Chesterton is perhaps the most
believable and well-rounded male companion ever written for Doctor Who, even by today’s high
standards, and as I said in my review for An
Unearthly Child is one of my all-time favourite Who characters.

Some of the Thals are also interesting characters.
Alydon, while more closely fitting the traditional hero stereotype than Ian,
has fascinating moments of self-conflict and doubt which make him quite a wise
and thoughtful person. Ganatus also has depths to his character, appearing
vain, wry and self-assured on the surface, but in reality is fiercely loyal,
sensitive and affectionate, partly shown by Ganatus gradually falling in love with
Barbara. The old Thal leader Temmosus on the other hand appears wise and
learned, when in truth his old age as made him too trusting, naive and at times
foolish too. Antodus is probably the only character I sadly don’t like, clearly
created purely to set up the (literal) cliff-hanger to episode six, a dramatic
twist made rather too obvious by Antodus’ continuous complaints and worries
over the two proceeding episodes, that the Thals’ attack on the Daleks will
fail and they’ll all die, becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. In short,
Antodus is mainly a coward and a cynic, who’s every line, is a moan of some
kind, with no effort in the script to help make him likeable at all. His death
is a mercy to the audience, although fortunately the cast try their upmost to
redeem this scene.

In fact The Daleks
is blessed with an equally strong cast as well as brilliant characterisation.
William Hartnell continues to make the Doctor a fascinating and
multi-dimensional character with a multi-faceted performance. Hartnell may seem
to still play the curmudgeonly and arrogant old man of before, but now he has
had more time to work out how to develop his performance. Of course the
character is still aloof, but Hartnell rightly focuses his acting on
emphasising the evolving change in the Doctor’s ways and reveals more about him
through subtle performance than would ever be worthwhile, or even possible with
exposition. He wonderfully softens off the character’s hard edges with
whimsical bluster and an almost child-like enthusiasm. Just see the look on his
face during a close-up in episode six when he knows that he’s one step ahead of
the Daleks as he jests to camera about teaching them “a thing or two”. Pure TV
gold! Most importantly though William Hartnell is astute enough to keep the
Doctor a vulnerable character, partly because it’s essential to the plot of the
story, but also because the audience needs to take note of the character’s
fallibility and flaws that will be a key plot and narrative point of the next
serial, The Edge of Destruction.

Carole Ann Ford continues to wonderfully convey Susan’s
innocence and infectious enthusiasm in her continuing travels, particularly in
her ability to play younger than her age, appearing especially shy when she
first talks with Alydon, and initially being too trusting of the Daleks’
intentions when they offer to help the Thals. Jacqueline Hill also continues to
deliver a consummate performance, maintaining Barbara’s healthy nervous
distrust of her ever-changing surroundings, and believably plays to the
character’s horror at just how alien this new world is, particularly in her
terror-stricken performance when she first encounters a Dalek at the end of
episode one, and powerfully sells that moment to the audience completely. Hill
also brilliantly conveys Barbara’s vulnerability in this story, throughout the
many shocks and trials the character has to go through, especially in the
moments when she is in the Dalek cell, suffering from radiation sickness. On
the other side of the spectrum, Jacqueline Hill also impresses with a
beautifully subtle romantic chemistry with Philip Bond, who plays Ganatus and
plays the chemistry equally well. The chemistry never feels forced, and I can
totally believe that this romance could develop into a fictional relationship
had Barbara chosen to stay. Of course, Barbara still wants to return to Earth,
and Hill equally subtly shows Barbara pained that she has to leave Ganatus,
knowing that she can’t leave any opportunity to return home. It’s so
beautifully done that it’s certainly one of my favourite moments of the whole
story.

The star of the show on this occasion though, has to be
William Russell. He as an actor makes a lot of The Daleks utterly compelling to watch. Russell has the instinct,
like Jacqueline Hill, to not overplay characteristics, and only put in a
dramatic performance at the right climatic moments. He makes Ian a warm,
charming and very likeable character, while trying to keep Ian’s bravery and
courage muted and humble. Quite often though, it’s up to William Russell to
shoulder a lot of the story’s drama and keep the audience caring about it, and
he succeeds immensely. He’s also wise to the needs of a television audience in
particular, performing and reacting with an impressive pace, and always with
total conviction. There are three scenes that highlight this the most, firstly
when the time travellers are dying of radiation poisoning and imprisoned by the
Daleks. While William Hartnell and Jacqueline Hill have to play near
unconscious, William Russell has to almost single-handedly sell the dire nature
of the situation to the audience, and voice the Ian’s anguish and despair at
being paralysed and unable to help his companions. Secondly the moment when Ian
desperately tries to trick Alydon into realising he that he will fight to
protect some things. The other scene is during the cave sequences when Antodus
commits suicide to stop him from pulling Ian into the ravine with him. Just
look at William Russell’s immediate reaction after the event to see what I
mean, as he silently trembles with shock when he pulls up the end of the rope
cut by the late-Antodus. It’s this attention to detail which makes you forget
you’re watching a fictional TV drama.

The other key element that helps to make The Daleks compelling viewing is the
high quality of direction. Film fanatics and film theorists may scoff at that
last sentence, but for Television, some of the serial’s visual effects are
really quite innovative and imaginative, especially considering the small
budget, such as the movement of the Dalek lift, or the visual interpretation of
a Dalek going mad by multiplying an image of a Dalek and the rotating the
multiple images in a circle like a kaleidoscope, and the use of negative light
inversion effect to represent the Daleks’ death ray. Then there’s the high
quality of the general direction such as directed performance, cinematography
and editing. Again the cinematography may not be as impressive as it is for
film, but it is still quite impressive, including nice touches like taking some
shots from a Daleks’ viewpoint. Christopher Barry and Richard Martin both do
some great work here. Episodes 2-4 are the best directed, filled with a
brilliant mix of drama, suspense and action with a pace that never lets up
until the second half of episode 5. The time travellers helplessly trapped and
dying from radiation sickness, the lift escape sequence, the tense slow
build-up to the Daleks’ Thal ambush, and the equally thrilling build-up to the
Daleks’ defeat, all these are some of Doctor
Who’s best and most memorable moments, and it would never have worked as
well had it not been for both Barry and Martin’s creative instincts.

I still maintain that An
Unearthly Child is a much underrated classic, but The Daleks is an even greater one. A imaginatively and brilliantly
written, acted and directed science fiction thriller, with multiple layers and
twists that are not just exciting, but tense, occasionally touching and
philosophical, that make for fantastic storytelling, and a wonderful adventure
that became a successful template for many others, as well as believable
characters and dialogue that make it easy for viewers to invest in, even 50
years later. The Daleks is a classic
and key part of Television history that is simply unforgettable, it’s success
having made its imaginative creations an immortal and iconic character that has
spanned the generations, and that I’m sure will continue to do so.

Score: 10/10

(P.S. I should also thank Ian Levine for saving The Daleks and many other 1960s serials from destruction at the hands of unimaginative 1970s BBC bureaucrats.)